TIIE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: JANUARY 23, 1910.
Margaret O'Brien's Quarter of a Century in the Omaha Public Library
I)
1
K
I"
N OMAHA schoolmaster stood
1 with his imU nephew before
JT I the rending room door of the
J'unnc library a few days afro
and, nodding toward a head of
Know Whit hair bowed nvmr K.
librarian's desk, said to the child: 'That
woman used to give ma books when I wti
no larer than you are." And there are
hundred, yen, thousande of Onwha mm
and women who might aay the nam thlnir
to their children today of Miss Msrgaret
tTBrleii, who wUI complete her twenty,
fifth year of service In the Omaha Public
library next Wednesday. P0 closely han
she ben identified with the organization
through the years of I la growth and de
velopment that to Its patrons, old and
young, her genial fare crowned with a
wealth of anowy white hulr Is more fs
rnlllnr than any other nrd 1m sssoelatoil
with the library ax a part of the Insti
tution Itself.
"The Library Lidv." Hy this anpcli
tfon alio la Vnown Ut thousands who have
not known llr l,y name and It was esti
mated by a member of Omaha'a Pioneer
association recently that aha ha bowing
aoijmHrilanre- at leart. with mora people
than any other ona person tn town.
Put In spite of her twenty-five years of
service and her white hair. Miss O'Brien
la far from hiring a candidate for tha
pensioner's class. She, la only beginning
te enter middle lire. Hsr abundant hair
ha been whit since chlMhootl and, like
hr keen gray eyes. Is fmi)y feature.
And there la that In her alert face and
the suggestion of a smile lurking at the
corner of her month that bespeak a na
ture and a heart that will never grow old
even when those lines that mark every
aerlous fare become deepened with age.
It was when the library was housed In
the old Williams' block at Fifteenth and
Dodge streets that Miss O'Brien entered
the employ of the city, and her service has
been uninterrupted since. She had been
teaching for a short time In Jefferson pre
cinct of this county and upon the advice
of Judge Jamea W. Savage, a family friend
and at that time a member of the library
board, she made application for a position
as an assistant librarian. At that time the
Institution boasted two employes, of whom
MTsa Mary V. Allen, as librarian, was tha
superior.
"It was early Monday morning, January
M. 1885," said Miss O'Brien, "that I got a
card from Misa Allen telling ma to come
New York
EW YORK. Jan. 21 There la a
N
door in a Fourth avenue build
ing which has all the hall marks
of shipping department doora
In general battered aide posts,
polished Iron chutes, boxes on the
sidewalk marked with names that aeem to
have been taken haphazard from a
gazetteer. Husky truckmen are continually
going In and out and through the dusty
wlndowa the heads may be seen of clerks
chocking off lists. It is one of a thousand
doors which would to a casual passerby
seem devoted to the same purpose.
But there is a special name attached to
this particular door. This la the Door of a
Million Bibles. Out of this door each year
a million Bibles pas to be distributed
through the world.
The rumor that a conditional gift of G00,
000 from Mrs. Russell Sage awalta the ac
tion of the Bible society In raising a sim
ilar amount Is affirmed by one of the of
ficials, but that any rigid time limit baa
boen placed upon it he denies.
' "Mrs. Sage has been very considerate," he
says, "and appreciating the difficulty at
tendant upon the task haa extended the
boundary of the' period to a generous fu
ture." Already large sums have been received
from the various agencies about the coun
try to be added to the fund whloh la being
raised. It tukea approximate y $600,000 to
pay the expenses of the society each year,
and the 11,000,000 that the officials expect
to receive through Mrs. Sage's gift will be
considered In the light of a nestegg, some
thing to depend on in the case of financial
depressions and a consequent slacking up
of contributions.
t
Only One Book. v
It was Sir Walter Scott who In his last
Illness, after asking a friend to read aloud
to him and hearing the Interrogation as to
the book desired, aald, "There Is only one."
As to .thia "only one" there Is, according
to the statistics of the American Bible so
ciety, no evidence that the interest of the
human family has lapsed Into Indifference.
A record of approximately 90,000,000 volumes
In eighty years speaks eloquently to the
contrary.
"The society was flrat housed in a small
building on Nassau street, in a room about
the size of one of the secretaries' sanc
tums of today, with its walls lined with
Gossip About
Itooaevelt'a fttnnts In Africa.
K WOULD breakfast at dawn
W
and leave the farm about the
time that it grew light enough
to se," writes Theodore Roose
vt It In fcribner's. "Ordinarily
our course was eastward, toward
the Athl, a few miles distant. These
mornlnts rides were very beautiful. In our
front was the mountain mans of Donvo
Sabuk. and the sun rose behind it, flbod
lvg the heavens with gold and crimson.
The morning air blew fresh In our faces,
and the unahoil feet of our horses made no
sound as they trod the dew drenched grass.
On every hide game Mood to watch us.
In ids of h:irtebcests and zebras, and now
and then a herd of wild beasta or a few
Irsgglng old wildebfest bulls. Some,
tmns the zebras and kongonl were ver7
shy, and took fright when we were yet a
lira) way off; at other times they would
vtund motionless and permit us to come
within fair gunshot, and after we had
parsed we could see them regarding us
without their having moved. The wllde
becsta were warier; us:ially when we were
still a quarter of a mile or so distant the
1 ?rd, which had been standing with heads
up, their short, shaggy necks and heavy
withers giving the animals an unmistakable
look, would take fright, and, with heavy
fur vets, and occasional running In semi
circles, would make off, heada held down
nd long tails lashing the air.
"In the open wooda which marked the
bolder between the barren plains and tin
fortsted valley of the Athl. Kerrnlt and 1
srot water-buck and linpalla. The water
buck Is a stately antelope with long, coarse
gray hair and fine carriage of the head
and neck; the male alone carries noma.
We found them usually tn parties of ten
or a dozen, both of bulls and cows; but
urnetiraea a party of cow a would go alone.
o Wiree or
Wr. In
fiua it mucl
or four bulla might be found to-
inie.ui us name, we aid not
much given to going In the water.
although It would cross the river fearlessly
whenever it desired; It was. however, al
I
down to the library and begin work at
once, and I wfca pretty happy when I pre
sented myself. My teacher's certificate
served as a substitute for an examination,
so It was possible for me to begin immedi
ately. It was a modest little library then,
too. compared with our present splendid In
stltutlcn. "It occupied a part of the seoond floor
of the Williams block, but when the third
story was added we moved upstairs, and
we felt we had expanded greatly. The
Provides
helves. An officer of that early lme said
that he hoped the society would prosper to
the extent of having all the available space
soma time filled with Bibles. In 1863 the
society moved to Its present quarters arter
various changes of residence, the corner
stone being laid with due ceremonies on
June 84, 1864," says Dr. Henry Dwlght, who
acted as guide to the reporter and Is at
present one of the secretaries of the so
ciety. 1
Following him one sees' In the printing
rooms men and women working together,
a majority of whom have grown gray in
the service. Some of the secretaries and
clerks have served in the mission field, and
Dr. Dwlght himself haa come to his quiet
revolving chair after . strenuous days and
nights In Turkey.
Where the Board Meets.
One of the most interesting places visited
is the managers' room, where board and
special meetings are held. It Is a fine old
apartment with high wainscoted walla and
paneled celling. Stained glass windows af
ford a mellow light and in it are portraits
of men prominent in the history of the so
ciety. At one end of the room is a fac
simile of a Chinese houseboat used to con
vey a corps of missionaries guarding some
twenty tons of Bibles sent to parts of China
la the great Tangtse Klang river. The
figures of the latter half of the year 1909
are not yet compiled, but the record shows
that during the flrat six months there were
old tn China alone some 408,000 Bibles, a
total never reached before.
In the salesroom of the -society are cases
filled with duplicate copies of original
books and manuscripts. The fact that the
building hi not fireproof Is the reason why
the interesting collection owned by the so
ciety la at present housed at tht Lenox
library. This collection contains editions
of the Bible In more than ISO languages and
dialects. Of English versions and revisions
there are approximately 1,000 volumes, ex
clusive of the manuscripts.
, .
Some Havre Copies.
Here you will see one of the few "Vinegar
Bibles," Oxford, 171. In which a printer's
mistake haa been Immortalised, as in the
"Brteches Bible." There is a facsimile of
the Bible printed on white satin whloh was
presented to the empress dowager of China
in 1894 by 10,000 Christian women. There
is a copy of the Bible done into the Mon-
Noted People
ways found not very far from water. Tt
liked the woods and did not go many miles
from the streams, yet we frequently saw
It on the open plains a mile or two from
trees, feeding In the vicinity of the aebr
sad the hartebeest This was, however,'
usually quite early In the morning or quite
late lu the afternoon."
Gladstone and Tobaecn.
One of the few accomplishments which
Gladstone never acquired was the art of
smoking, says the Westminster Gasette.
His few attempts in this direction are re
ported to hnve been dismal failures. Only
once waa he known to try a cigarette, the
occasion bttng one evening when King Ed
ward (thon Prince of M ales) waa his guest
at Downing: street. After dinner the prince
desired to smoke and Gladstone with tine
courtesy sought to place his guest at ease
by at least lighting a cigarette. In later
years the Grand Old Man one day accused
his, secretary of smelling of the weed. "No
wonder," was the reply, "I've been over
half an hour with Sir William Harcourt."
"What! Dora Harcourt smoker' exclaimed
Gladstone. "You must tell him to be cxro
ful always to change his clothes before be
comes to me."
Jim's Coat aDana Mere.
Richard La Oalllenne, the noted poet,
was entertaining a group of magaslne ed
itors at luncheon ia New York.
To a compliment upon his fame Mr. L
Gallleiine aald lightly:
"But what la poetical fame In this age
of prose? Only yesterday a schoolboy came
and asked me for my autograph. I a
anted willingly. And today at breakfast
time the boy again presented himself.
" 'Will you give me your autograph, slrr
be said.
" 'But,' said I, 1 gave you my autograph
yeaterday!'
" 1 swopped that and a dollar,' he an
swered, for the autograph of Jim Jef
frie.' "
board at that time Included Judge Jamei
W. Savage, president; William Wallace,
vice president; Louis 8. Keed, secretary;
Ok V. Oallagher, R. L. Perrlne, James M.
Ross, John T. Bell, II. P. Lewis and Miss
Elisabeth Poppleton, now Mrs. Shannon.
Of these members. Mr. Reed alone has
continued on the board, and I was sin
cerely sorry when ill health compelled hU
resignation a short time ago. For a time
we remained In the Williams block, and
then came a notable change. We moved
Bibles in
golian dialect by 8chrescnerowsky, a orlp
ple, who ateo did one Into Calmuck. There
Is a copy of the "Matarin Bible," the first
book printed. from movable metal types In
two volumes, which appeared about the
year 1466 and the first recognized copy of
which was discovered tn the library of
Cardinal Mazarin hence the title. It ia
also called the "Gutenberg Bible," from the
name of the printer, and again termed the
forty-two line Bible, from the number of
lines in each column of Its pages. Copies
of the several editions of the Gutenberg
Bible have been sold for sums which would
procure nearly 100,000 Bibles now printed
by the American society.
There are also copies of the Douay version
of the Bible used by Roman Catholics, of
the translations from the Latin Vulgate
made by the English college at Rhelms, of
the English version of the Scriptures now
in common use and of the revised edition,
the work of English and American scholars,
which appeared In 1886. According to the
terms of tha agreement then entered into
no other revision was to be published until
after fourteen years, so it was not until
the summer of 1901 that the American
standard edition of the revised edition was
given out.
The society exhibits In special cabinets
ome of the queer objects given among the
many native tribes In exchange for Biblea.
These Include personal adornments, weap
ons of the hunt and war, carvings and
paintings, shells, embroideries. I
fr '
In the Sales Iloom.
In the salesroom are to be seen single
books from the Bible printed In clear type
and bound In cloth, whloh retail for t cents
apiece, those In foreign tongues at I cents.
The New Testament costs 8 cents. The
complete Bible may be had for 17 cents,
the foreign versions costing 25 cents. ' The
most expensive Bibles, printed for the hol
iday trade, with soft covers of scarlet
leather, cost only 11.80, the object of the
society being to furnish these volumes
as cheaply as possible and eliminating
editions de luxe and Bibles In expensive
bindings, except In rare instances where a
direct call Is made for them. The low
prices, many of them much below the
actual cost of production, are Interesting In
connection with the statistics furnished by
Dr. Dwlght In regard to the expense In
curred In earlier times.
"Before the art of printing, the Bible was
reproduced exclusively by briefmen, or
copyists, whe wrote it out with the pen,
and it was then the most expensive book
Bit of
"'.I-.,- ,
....! -.'A 'U.'e'.' a :
' 'v.p, itf&
r?r, : r.,fe-r,.. - . , ;
VIEW OF
HE accompanying picture shows
the mala street in Brownvllle,
as It appeared In 1869. Brown
ville ia one of the oldest towns
In the state, and at on? time
was, perhaps, the moat lmpurt
and. In the pioneer days It waa the seat
of the land office, and played a great part
lu the river t raffia,
August , ISA. Rlahard Brown, from
Holt county, Missouri, crossed the river
and landed at a little cave among the
bluffs oa the Nebraska territory aide. He
waa Impressed with the beauty of tha spot.
As to whether he had dreams of founding
a great city or simply a village is un
known, but the fact remains that be drove
sles.ee, and laid aut a town Brown vtlle-.
whloh grew and prospered, until an aggre
gation of circumataiicee oaileled her de
X
I
MARGARET O'BRIEN.
Into the Falconer block at Fifteenth and
Douglas, the portion now occupied by the
Ktlpatrlck dry goods house. We had the
two upper floors,' the lower being lined as
a reading room and the top floor for. the
circulating library. At that time the col
lection Included 13,129 books and magazines
and w-as the most completeof any In this
section of the west. We were very proud
of It. About this time Miss Jessie Allen,
Vast Numbers for
in the world.", he said. "In the thirteenth
century a copy of the Bible with a few
explanatory notes cost $150. The wages
of a laborer amounted then to 18 cents a
week, and It would take a workman somo
fifteen years to earn enough to purchase
a volume.
"Even after the Invention of printing, the
Bible told at fabulous sums. In as late a
period as that immediately following the
American revolution the dearth of books
was so great that the possession of a Bi
ble ranked with that of the other treasures
of a household. The cheapest volume was
purchased for not less than U "
Work for Missionaries.
Altogether, through the efforts of the so
ciety, translations of the Bible have been
made into aome 450 languages and dialects.
These translations are generally made by
.missionaries, who in the countries where
there is no written tongue find themselves
confronted by a work that oftentimes takes
anywhere from two to five years and Is
attended by very great difficulties. As
soon as a missionary has formulated a
written language from the spoken sounds
and has taught some of the natives to read
and write, he wants to translate the Bible
and requests the Bible society to print the
translation and send him the books for dis
tribution. At the present time the Bible society
Is printing the Bible In three of the lan
guages of Africa' which have never been
used for writing. It is also printing Bibles
In five of the languages of the-Philippines
and slowly completing the printed list of
thirty languages used in the various islands
of the South Pacific.
great many of the books intended for
distribution in the far east are printed in
places other than New York.- For exam
ple, there is a fine printing establishment
at Yokohama, under the auspices of the
Bible society, which employs Japanese
workmen under contract. From this place'
distribution Is made to the Philippines and
to Korea. Tha society also prints In
Shanghai and Chen Tu and at Bangkok
In Slam, and at Beirut In Syria similar
work Is done, some of It on presses be-,
longing to the Presbyterian Missionary so
ciety, with whom the American Bible so
ciety co-operates.
All the books for South Africa are
prntted here, and those for the Gilbert
islands, the Kusale and Ponape islands,
too, as well as many other far away points.
The packing of Biblea for these points re
4
Early Nebraska History
t,..,i;.;.. , '
? '' v v ,'- -J ; ' , ; si't : -
'j' '-"j. '') ' "'-J'"" J" "
' "' .W'1' ' :
3f ,!"
MAIN STREET N BROWN VI LLE IN
cline, which began in the latter 70's or
early W.
Brownvllle and Bellevue toss coins for the
ag hopor. Brownvllle was long the county
eat of Nemaha county. The Burlington
railroad built from Brownvllle to Nemaha
City, and from thence west, and, instead
of striking the little town of Sheridan to
(he center of the county, ran one mile
south of It, established a station called
Calvert, bought the surrounding land,
boomed the town. Intending to kill Bheri
dan, capture the county seat from Brown
vllle and make Calvert a flourishing town,
all of which would have come to pass had
not tha Missouri Pacific decided to build
a line from Kansas City to Omaha, making
Sheridan a station. Sheridan boomed, and
so did Calvert
Each town had a "court house" square,
and kept agttatlng the Question of re-loca
then assistant to her sister, accepted a po
sition In Washington, D. C. and I was ap
pointed to her place, and later, upon mo
tion of John Bell, was formally appointed
assistant librarian. This was May J, 1 880.
"The next Important epoch In tha history
of the library was It. removal to the third
floor of the Pn.Ttnn block In January. 18R8.
Shortly before that Miss Mary Allen had
resigned her position as librarian and her
sister, Miss JesBie, was recalled from
Washington to succeed her. Our new
quires great precautions, which means
usually that they arc placed In tin boxes
which are made airtight and roldered and
then put In wooden boxes, so (hat If they
should be dropped overboard on their way
from the ship's side or In voyaging up
rivers and through canals the books will
not suffer thereby.
Colporteurs as Lingual Experts.
The United States Is divided into sec
tions, and from the agencies established
In each colporteurs cover certain allotted
territory. '
"We are apt," continues Mr. Dwlght, "to
think that the missionaries of South Africa,
of the Philippines, among the Basques and
in Iceland, as may be, must necessarily
meet with strange peoples and strange ad
ventures, but we do not have to go be
yond the confines of our own country to
parallel them.
"Many of the colporteurs, particularly
those In the northwest, speak at least
twenty different languages and continually
requests are coining from them and from
outside people begging that the Bible may
be translated into some dialect or lan
guage spoken In far-off points, the very
names of which are unknown to the ma
jority of New Yorkers. In the agency
which distributes the Scriptures from the
city of San Francisco lr California, Ne
vada. Oregon and Washington are Spanish
speaking Mexicans, Portuguese, one-half of
all the Chinese in the United States, Japa
nese. Koreans, Hindus, Malays, Hawallans
and Filipinos.
The agenoy established in the northwest
during the year ending March 81, 1909, dis
tributed Scriptures In thirty-five different
languages, Inoludlng, in addition to Frenoh,
Gerfnan, Scandinavian and Finnish, such
tongues as the Lettish, Slovak, Lithuanian,
Croatian, Slovenian and Arabic One of
,the Bible society colporteurs was Bent to
Indianapolis to Alstrlbute books among the
Hunyaks. The name waa unknown to him.
When he went among them he found that
the people so designated were a medley of
Servians, Croattans, Bulgarians, Macedon
ians, Turks, Roumanians, Greeks, Alban
ians, Germans and Hungarians.
"In Haughvllle, a suburb of Indianapolis,
he found Slovenians, Polanders, Slovaks
and Lithuanians. These foreigners live, to
gether In groups, in. one instance, fifty
three men were living in five small rooms.
The colporteurs employed by the American
Bible society during the last year numbered
.... '-..-. ; ,. :
' -'.' .---'.f-,-j-''-' -': '"''v-' -
il'" '-'.'."." :'Vt"--...-
r n
I it.
Ilt.
tion, but it was evident that locating It In
either Calvert or Sheridan, waa impos
sible. Consequently the leader of the
two towua held a meeting and decided to
lay out a new town which ahould include
the two, and petition to locate the court
house beteewn them. A. H. Gllmore, now
deceased, had been reading the "Gold
smith's Deserted Village," and suggested
the name "Auburn," which is now Ne
maha's county seat. The town and Brown
vllle. the "deserted village," was Incor
porated In 1883, and an election held in Feb
ruary of the same year for the purpose of
voting on movlsg the county seat from
Brownvllle. . Poor old Brownvllle was the
loser and Its decline was rapid. Within
ten year, the finest residences In Brown
vllle could be rented for almost nothing,
and In some Instances the owners were so
glad for tenants that rent was free.
quarters were a great Improvement over
the old. The reading room was separated
from the circulating department by a glass
partition and wa had more room than ever.
Everything Indicated that the popularity
of the Institution had grown apace with
the Collection, and we began to dream of
a home of our own, a building that should
be equipped for our needs. 1
"In April of 1887 the board realising the
necessity of doing something to Improve
the system, hired Charles Evans, formerly
World Distribution
approximately 682. Of these 1G3 were In the
home agencies and the remainder in the
foreign agencies and as missionary corre
spondents. 1 nevlsione Reqnlre Attention.
"The revisions of the various translations
and editions of the Bible already printed
is also an important branch of the work,"
says Dr. Dwlght. "For example, we havo
been at wok since last spring In getting
a' Spanish revision any expect It will take
six year to complete the work. For this
purpose we brought here, three American
missionaries from Mexico, three men who
have lived In South America for thirty
years and know the literary language per
fectly, and to assist these three native
scholars. , 1
"They are expected to keep close watch
on each other's work and prevent either
provincialisms or the stiff old Castlllan
tongue from predominating. When the re
vision of the existing Bible Is completed a
thousand copies will be sent through the
Spanish speaking countries to get the criti
cisms of the people. This is called the ex
perimental publication, and when the books
return to us they will come with many new
Ideas, valuable as well as useless sugges
tions and criticisms of the translators' and
revisers' work.
"In China there has been working for
twelve years a committee composed of
Americans and British, who are revising
two Chinese dialects, and these men will
stay there and dig for several years longer,
for It Is a tremendous piece of work. An
other equally difficult task Is the revision
of the Zulu Bible. One of less arduous
work, but of Importance, Is the Portuguese.
"The Arabia reference Bible is now being
printed at the press In Beirut, Syria, and
the completion of the Mandarin Chinese
Reference Bible... continues, slowly progress
ing to an ultimate prefeotlon. Thp revision
work is considered of tremendous impor
tance in the society.
"In regard to the work nearer at hand.
In New York there are several auxiliaries
which help In this work and there are In
Manhattan between thirty-five and orty
spoken languages.' Agents from the society
are sent dally to Ellis Island. During the
eighty years ended October 1, V.W, the so
ciety distributed 2,030,088 copies of the Bible
in this way.
"Early in its history the society made
Quaint Features of Life
Sudden Close of a Wake,
FTER being placed, shrouded. In
a casket which was surrounded
by mourners gathered for an
all-night wake, at Pensacola,
Fla., Mrs. Jessie Miller haped
from her coffin Christmas
night, a perfectly well woman.
Physicians twelve hours before had pro
nounced life extinct. The woman's hus
band, Captain E. J. Miller, master of the
army steamer Poe, had left the city to
make arrangements for a grave for hla
wife, and for conducting the funeral.
Mrs. Miller, In breaking out ofv the cof
fin, toppled it over and was slightly In
jured. The consternation among the
mourner waa so great that it waa with
difficulty they were Induced to return to
the chamber and render aid. The case la
declared to bo one of suspended respira
tion. v Why Jap Hables Are Good.
Americans wonder at the amiable temper
of our Japanese babies, says a native in
the Dollenator; the real marvel Is' the
measure cf good nature which the Ameri
can baby manages to retain after all he is
called upon to go through In dressing. How
on earth can the most perfect of saints, let
alone a baby, be expected to retain his
Christian virtues! His legs and tiec-k are
twisted Into all aorta of double knots three,
four times a day, that they may be squeezed
through a tight-fitting shirt. Our baby
lolhea are certainly simpler. Incidentally
they are wlde-mlnded and wide-sleeved
enough to let a baby grow In them without
Us putting up a ring fight.
Baby dresses are cut, along general lines,
the same as the kimono of the grownups.
Only for the baby the sleevea and skirts
are longer and wider In proportion, so that
they will cover the bare feet; bealdes pro
tecting the bare hands, the long sleeves
aave faces from heartless scratchlngs.
After the first bath the nurse take out
an undergarment, fits It Into the inner aide
of an outer garment and then lays the
dresses "Thus fitted upon the aoft-padded
Wffl
of the Indianapolis library, tn reratalogue
cur books. This also meant reclassifying
and renumbering, and most of lh booke
were card catalogued. The eatalogue and
finding lists were Issued In And then
our dream of a building of our ewn came
true. I used to pana the new building
every day going to and Trom my work and
( watched It with every bit as much In
terest as If It had been my own. Finally
we moved In, and almost everyone will re
member our grand opening reception July
4. 1:4. And now I am completing my
twenty-fifth year of service. "
At various limes Miss O Rrlen has sa
sumrd the duties of librarian for several
months at a time. When 111 health neces
sitated Miss Allen's prolonged absence Miss
O'Brien took her place, and since Mlsa
Kdlth Tobilt become librarian Miss O'Brien
lum acted In her place during trips abroad
and on other occasions when her absence
was enforced. In September, 183", Mlse
O'Brien assumed charge of the reading
room, the medloal library and the collec
tion of government publications, which po
sition she still holds.
Miss O'Brien Is a daughter of the late
Cloneral and Mrs. George Morgan O'Brien,
who were among Omaha's early residents.
She has been Identified with library work
and library extension In Nebraska for many
yeurs, and haa the distinction of having
given the first paper before- the first an
nual meeting of the Nebraska Library as
sociation, which was held at Lincoln in
December, 18. Her subject was "The Re
lation of the Public Library to the Publlo
School." For seven years she served as
treasurer of that organisation and Is at
present lis second vice president. She was
also a member of the legislative committee
of the association that worked with the
clubwomen for the passage of the bill
creating the state library commission. She
Is also a member of, the Amerloan Library
association and at Intervals during her
service In the Omaha library bas taken
special training Tor her work.
"As the years go by I begin to dream
of a little fruit ranch out In Washington
or some other mild climate. Just a fear
acres, five or ten, would be enough to
occupy my declining years," said Mlaa
O'Brien, with a smile. "But the margin
an assistant librarian's salary affords over
living expenses nowadays is nut muura
ing of speedy realisation of such a dream
but I will not be ready to retire from mjr
present position for several years'."
arrangements to supply Bibles at half cost
to hotels, steamboats and railroad cars,
and at the principal seaports, with New
York In the lead, a large number are regu
larly sent among the naval forces and
among seamen generally. To date about
1,(00.000 books have been distributed by the
marine committee.
Hnmora of the Work.
"Even the dignrfled seriousness of Dr.
Dnlght is not proof against the attack of
mirth that seizes him as he relates the
Introduction of what a barker dsaorlbed to
the merrymakers at Coney Island last sum
mer aa 'the washtub' edition of the Bible.
"The Bible at Coney Island Is brought
Into competition with fasoinatlng and novel
forms of amusement and entertainment and
the hoarse voice of its own energetic col
porteur is one of many crying special
wares, such aa the 'Loop the Loop,' 'the
Ride Into the Whale' and the "Voyage to
Heaven and Hell,' and even those members
of the society who deprecate the apparent
loss of dignity Involved In this rivalry are
obliged to admit that while It is eminently
necessary to maintain the serious character
of the Holy Book at the same time it ia
equally necessary 'to yield a point in doing
so and to take Into account the prevailing
moods of the thousands who stroll by the
stands rrjoods of recreation and enjoyment.
"The colporteur at Coney Island haul a
ready tongue and wit. He has a more diffi
cult proposition to handle than Ills com
petitors, and he handles it deftly. To one
he says reprovingly, In answer to a jest,
'This book will keep you from sin. Sin will
keep you from this book.' On the cards he
distributes and among the printed posters
decorating his well stocked stall the
passerby may read I
Satan trembles when he sees
Scriptures sold as cheap as these.
"With bis megaphone In hand John Henry
Way, a lifetime devotee of this special
branch of work, calls out to the moving
multitude, 'Don't forget the Bible,' and
some are singled out for special comments
adapted to their special needs. The small
boys whose greedy mouth Is open to re
ceive a large chunk of ice cream sandwich
Is, for instance, arrested by, the statement,
'You can have a book that will last you
for years for the price of a sandwich that
Is lost In a second.' Probably the sand
wich Is lost and the book is not gained, but
the boy haa beed made to think."
mat floor and simply and naturally puts
the baby Into tha opt n folds. No screams.
What excuse can the baby have to yell?
Simply a matter of dress nothing mere.
But see what a difference it makes in life!
To .the American mother the century-old
hysterical fit of screaming ao terrifying to
her; to the Japanese mother, perhaps, the
sweetest melody on earth the mellow cool
ing of content.
Tragedy of the Telephone.
W. L. Ross, treasurer of the Cuyahoga
Telephone company, file of the awful case
of a woman on a auburbun party line who
was In the habit ef talking, or listening to
other people talking, over that line all day
long, or until hunger would drive har from
the phone.
One day a man on tht same line picked
up the receiver and heard this woman and
another one working a conversational re
lay. He was annoyed lover having to wait
and set about making the women mad at
each other ao that they wouldn't talk any
mure. He placed the receiver on his phone
up against the transmitter, with the result
that when either woman was talking, her
words came right back to her own ears.
The woman that happened to be having
the flow of words to the face at that mo
ment thought her neighbor was mocking
her, and after telling what ahe thought
of the bringing up of the people that would
stoop to such discourtesy, she hung up.
Then the man put In his call and was not
molested. Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The Lame War.
J I in Jeffries was talking to a reporter
about the purse of 101,000 that goes to the
winner of the Jeffries-Johnson battle.
"Oh, no," said the hurculean young man,
"it Isn't an enormous one fur America. We
look at money In such a large way here.
"Coming over on the boat I heard two
Chicago men talking In the bar.
" 'Which would you rather be,' said ono
of the in, "very rich or very poor?
" Neither,' said the other, In our large
native way. 'Otve me my choice and I'd
have about ta.too.000,' "Mew York Time
